Mirror Dinghy sea crossing

Mirror dinghy in slightly heavy weather, F4-5, Bembridge to Chichester. A 9 mile open sea crossing, fortunately with a fair wind. Comments are very welcome.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• mirror dinghy
• dinghy cruising
• sailing boat
• sail
• dinghy racing
• yacht
• heavy weather
• barco a vela
• bateau a voile
• segeln
• segelboot
• zeil
• zeilboot
• ocean
• islands
• water

[Ger1ger]

Hell o from another Mirror sailor,

Great clip showing how you store your gear. I note that the radar reflector is not hoisted. When you do use it, do you raise it to the masthead or to the peak of the mainsail? Any idea of what it weighs?

I have been out in heavy weather (see "JollenFlottille" youtube channel), but as our trips were always only day outings from a fixed base, I only needed basic navigation aids and dry clothes aboard. However I am interested in other peoples' experiences.

[msf60khz]

The radar reflector is raised to only about 1 metre on the shrouds when in use, as I calculated this is optimum for ships at about a mile away. I made it from copper clad PC board and weighs about 200 g.

Last weekend I slept aboard in Poole Harbour. We had F5 going home and I was down to engine and jib, bashing to windward.

[Dinghysailor100]

How long did the crossing from Bembridge to Chichester harbour take?

[msf60khz]

2h 5m sailing time Bembridge beach to Eastoke Beacon (about 9nm), 1h 30m between beacons (about 7nm). Wind was mainly a beam reach F3 -5, reefed main and jib for part of the time.

The outward journey was more difficult, close hauled in a choppy sea and tacking, 4h between the land, and had to use engine to get in.

[jathgnos]

Beautiful Dinghy, the wood work looks great. Is it coated in epoxy? I'm planning on building a dinghy myself to go cruising around in Florida bay. I have plans for a semi dory 11, but really like the look of yours and the storage space looks a bit more convenient for longer voyages.

[msf60khz]

@jathgnos The wood is stained and then treated with traditional marine varnish (not epoxy), easy to apply but you need several coats, rubbing down lightly between each. You need lots of storage boxes and cupboards! I also use a few dry bags, which are very convenient. Don't forget a couple of big anchors.

David

[TheRooster602]

Gosh that looks like a good time. Congratulations on your boat and your adventure.

[ultrasonic101]

This is a nice vid but if your looking for a great cruising dinghy check out scruffie marines "shimmy", home built from precut kit. You can see one sailing on "whispervideos" channel, shes called "Sheik". good luck.

[Bandit650k6]

Would be really interested in seeing some footage of the whole dinghy, the setup you use for cruising like the reefing sail as my mirror is a bog standard one that will not allow reefing.

I have not been sailing long but looking to take my mirror to the east coast this

year to experience the sea.

My sailing club is all "race race race" and to be honest I aint fussed, I just want to

cruise / camp and explore in my boat lol.

[davemakesawave]

nice; I'm hoping you have more footage to upload... please...